Conveint Inconvience
by Red-Like-Lithium
Summary: Part of my "Inside the Sand" collection. What were they supposed to do? After all, the Kazekage wasn't supposed to fall asleep during a meeting...


_A/N: Remember at the beginning of Shippuuden when Gaara was captured and the Suna council tried to replace him and Kankurou got angry? Have fun with my little 'afterward' one-shot:3_

_Theme: General/Humor_  
_Rating: K+, maybe T (cussing)_

* * *

Going for your _entire_ life without being able to sleep and suddenly having that demon inside of you extracted, forcing you to have to get rest like a normal person kinda sucked.

No one knew this better than the 5th Kazekage of Sunagakure, Sabaku no Gaara, former _Jinchuuriki_.

But no one really understood just how hard of a switch this was for him until about a month after his abduction.

Well, sure, Temari and Kankurou, his siblings, knew very well that it was a big change for him. They could only imagine, couldn't even try, for that matter. So when Gaara accidentally dozed off in the middle of dinner once, they hadn't said a word. Only discreetly knocked something over to snap him out of it.

But the true extent of this alteration in daily life for Gaara showed itself off on the third meeting among the council since the Akatsuki made their debut.

The discussion had to do with increasing border patrols to keep out any more rogue nins to prevent another breach in security. Background checks were going to be put in order to be on the extra safe side. Temari was listening closely, though her face didn't do a bad job of portraying her inner emotions (pure _boredom_). Kankurou was pissed about being there, too. Especially since face paint wasn't allowed (stupid rules) and he'd had to spend about ten minutes washing it off.

Gaara was quietest out of everyone in the room.

Well, that was normal, but this time he was silenter than usual.

Kankurou decided it was due to the fact that his brother had stayed up late last night trying to finished that enormous load of paperwork he'd been dumped with suddenly. His bodyguard had offered to help, but because he wasn't the leader of the country, Kankurou really couldn't do much.

One of the elders was finishing up his sentence, leaning back in his chair and folding in his hands before him. "Don't you agree, Kazekage-sama?"

The council turned to their superior expectantly.

...Only to be utterly confused and dumbfounded.

Gaara's arms were folded loosely across his chest, where his chin also rested. He was breathing evenly, eyes shut and muscles slack. He gave no indication that'd heard a word of that conversation; just remained in his position, not even twitching a lid.

He was asleep, and was apparently _not_ planning to wake up any time soon.

Now, here's the question: What the fuck were they supposed to do?

The older members of the assembly began to glance nervously at each other, questioning these events. Murmurs sprouted from the other side of the table. A wrinkled man with gray hair and squinty eyes was staring at the relatives of the Kazekage accusingly.

Kankurou found this hilarious.

He was trying to stop his shoulders from bouncing as he stifled his laughter. The Puppeteer's lips curled into a big, lopsided grin as he forced down a sob of suppressed humor. Kankurou considered saying something witty, but Temari beat him to it.

The _kunoichi_ got to her feet quietly, placing one arm across her abdomen, the other behind her back. She took a deep bow of what would have been reparation if she wasn't smirking. "My dearest apologies for this, ladies and gentlemen. However, in case you morons forgot, Gaara requires sleep to survive now and you've all been depriving him of it with your bullshit administrations and homework."

That was enough to send Kankurou over the edge as he, too, pushed out his chair and stood. In the same 'respective' and even voice, he added, "You see, considering you tried to overthrow Gaara after his capture, he just got real tired of your shit and decided your ranting wasn't worth listening to. Wake him up if you please, see what happens."

Their faces were priceless.

Gaara hadn't moved an inch.

* * *

~End~


End file.
